Back and Better than Ever

I’ve had an on and off relationship with Tumblr for a few years now. I obviously have trouble with online commitments. However, there are some things going on in my life that have made me want to start blogging again. If I put them on the internet for the whole world to see, then they can keep me accountable, right?

I recently moved back home (my parent’s basement to be exact, holla!) after a year away in the dorms at my college.

If there’s one thing I learned in my year away, it’s that I’m definitely a city girl. I loved living in Denver and that’s one of the few things I’ll miss about the dorms.

I spent my freshman year of college, at home, commuting to school by carpooling with my boyfriend who also lives with his parents in the same town. I wanted more than anything to live in a dorm or an apartment and have that real “college experience.” Now that I’ve had it, I’ve realized the “college experience” is completely overrated. Some things you have to learn for yourself though.

When the opportunity came to live down in the dorms, I jumped at it. I was so excited! Sine what was holding me back in the first place was money, I got a job at the front desk of the building. In exchange for 24 hours of work per week, I would get free room and board. It sounded like a great deal, but it didn’t turn out to be so great. I don’t mean any offense towards the dorms or the people I worked with, I simply couldn’t make it work for me. Since I didn’t get an actual paycheck from this job I had to have another job to keep up with my car payment, cell phone bill, etc. The desk job was required to be my top priority, so I could only work two days a week at my other job which put a HUGE financial strain on me. I made just enough to scrape by with my bills with hardly any money left over for spending.

My job at the desk was HELL. It was a 24-hour job so sometimes I worked at 2am, 4am, 6am, and sometimes I worked as many as 5 shifts in ONE day. The schedule was broken up so strangely and was different every week. It started to really take its toll on me, there were many sleepless nights and days where I had to work both my jobs in the same day, or days where I had to work a couple shifts before AND after I went to class. My life was MADNESS.

My alarms for my sleep schedule for work

One sleepless night at the desk

I didn’t even have time to have the social life required for the “college experience” I so badly wanted. Plus, I don’t party which is pretty much all dorm life is. You live in a shoebox, (which you have to share) and your neighbors smoke a lot of pot.

My room at school, before and after the moving process

There were plenty of upsides to moving away. I made a lot of friends, luckily, I was best friends with my roommate, my coworkers were great, I got a sense of independence, I proved I was able to support myself, I got to live in the city, and I was closer to school.

I miss them already 🙁

One of the greatest cons to my situation was my health. The food provided was anything but healthy. Typical dorm food, filled with sodium and fats. The food I was able to keep in the mini fridge in my room was limited to ramen and frozen dinners. Because I was so busy, I just ate what was available to me, and what was fastest. That meant, fast food, hot pockets, and pizza. There’s no secret as to why I gained as much weigh as I did. What was hard for me was trying to take it off, and never getting any results. After the initial weight gain, I threw out all my ramen and frozen dinners and tried to stick to the “healthy options” my dinning hall offered. These “healthy options” were still far from healthy, even the salad bar only offered fattening dressings like ranch and caesar. I’ll tell you, there’s nothing harder than resisting tempting foods when you’re SURROUNDED by them. But I tried my hardest, and I was in the gym every day. I saw a little improvement, but even the “healthy” foods I was feeding my body were still highly processed and full of sodium. It was what it was…dorm food.

Yes, that’s a real conversation between one of my coworkers and me…I’m ashamed haha

Well, that’s embarrassing, but it’s part of the whole “being held accountable” thing!

I have always been a small girl, I’m a dancer, and my mother was a health nut so I ate healthy not even by choice but by habit. My weight was never an issue for me, I always figure I had a high metabolism, but such was not the case. I was just active, and my mother never fed me junk. Thanks mom!

This is not about my weight. This is about my health and it’s I change I’ve already made. Since New Year’s, I was eating as healthy as I could and working out while at the dorms, now that I’m home, I’ve kicked it into high gear.

So, after some kicking and screaming, I decided I needed to come home. It’ll be a nice littler break. I only have to work one job, I can up my hours at said job to have more spendable money, get out of debt, be able to cook so I can have healthy and nutritious meals, work out, be closer to my boyfriend, SLEEP A FULL NIGHT ON A REGULAR BASIS. Big plus, I never have to get up at 3:30am for work again!

So, follow me on my journey to get my life back in order. Being happy, loving God, saving money, getting my grades up, strengthening my relationship with my boyfriend, being healthy, and getting in shape. This step in my life is an adjustment, but one I’m very excited for. While my year away was extremely hard on me, they are experiences I wouldn’t take back, and I’m so thankful to have them, I’m so excited for whatever is next in my life!!